Strategies To Counteract Social Deficits In Children & Adolescents

Strategies To Counteract Social Deficits In Children & Adolescents

Problem:

Social Phobia symptoms affect the social skills of the child and adolescent. Children usually tend to have fewer peer relationships and they lack knowledge on how to form friendships. They often experience difficulties approaching other children. Parents with children who experience social deficits often get informed by the school, that their child is shy and refused to participate in class. This kind of information needs to be counteracted as soon as possible, before the social deficits get carried through more developmental stages of the child and into adulthood.

Strategy to counteract the problem:

Children and adolescents need to be surrounded with peers to be given the chance to play together or to talk with one another. The strategies proposed here are confrontational in nature. When the children are still young, peer relationships can be encouraged by inviting the child’s friends over or by arranging a get-together for the children and their parents. Special events, such as birthdays, are a great opportunity to do just that. If your child has a friend, promote that relationship by arranging fun events or by inviting them to your home.

Furthermore, many parents choose to arrange group sports for their children to assist with the formation of new friendships and a team spirit. Children growing up in families with a sort of open door policy and with the involvement of their extended family members (grandparents, cousins…) tend to have fewer social deficits. Social interactions with adults decrease symptoms of anxiety.

Strategies To Counteract Social Deficits In Children & Adolescents – Psychology

To sum up, the strategy to counteract social deficits is to build a social network for the child or adolescent. The more anxiety he experiences around people, the more support she will require, until the anxiety subsides. If your child has severe difficulties with social skills, seek out a training program called „The Lil Tiger“. It teaches parents through role play and play acting, how the Lil Tiger becomes a stronger tiger in life. Psychologists often offer this program to groups of parents and their children. For adolescents, the more „grown-up“ cognitive therapy sessions are the preferred therapy choice.

Problem:

In the face of conflicts, a lack in social competence shows in the way the children and adolescents deal with problems. They to avoid the problem, therefore not seeking conflict resolution.

Strategy to counteract the problem:

When conflict arises at home, you can use the home conflict to teach your child or teenager how to solve conflicts outside of the home environment. Talk about the problem and allow the child to state its opinions and worries. Choose a calm conversation over an authoritative demanding obedience approach.

Develop your communication skills to teach them to your child. Be a mentor, not a nemesis. Learning comes with understanding, not with force. Make your child understand why you experience certain feelings about his behavior. Figure out why you are for example angry and then try to rationally explain that to your child. Irrational yelling and emotional flooding will do you no good and it will only lead to avoidance once again.

If you teach your child to think about a problem first, to then talk about it and to find a solution calmly, you increase the chances tenfold that your child will choose this very same strategy for other conflicts in his personal life. This in return gets rid of your worries, because you can rely on having given your child a peaceful armory to deal with anything life throws in her way.

Problem:

The self-esteem of children with social deficits is low and they tend to believe that other people intend to harm them. In school, the deficits amplify the fear of exams and affect performance altogether.

Strategy to counteract the problem:

Assist the child to improve its performance in school. Make room and time for your child, during which time you tend to the homework from school. Award any progress with kind words and pride. Once the child begins to learn effectively, its self esteem will draw energy from the belief of his self-efficacy when it comes to school learning abilities.

Believing in his skills will boost his self esteem and reduce the anxiety towards exams. A higher self-esteem will counteract the fear that other people intend to harm them, because believing in themselves makes them stand above such fears.

Strategies To Counteract Social Deficits In Children & Adolescents – Psychology

Adolescents rarely allow for parents to assist them. In this case, leave the adolescent to his work, but keep track and assume a rewarding position as explained earlier, when the young adult performs well in school. Even if the adolescent begins developing his own sense of pride at that age, the parental pride still carries a great deal of weight.

Hold a peaceful relationship with your teenage child, so that if any difficulties arise in her life, she will be able to inform you and seek for your help.